THE embarrassing travesty that took up virtually all of Saturday night's BBC1 schedule could make you think going into Europe isn't such a good idea after all.

But with the dawn of Sunday and the slow sobering up from that dreadful hangover, came a day that made you long to see more of the world beyond these shores.

It's to do with the fact that when one Everton season ends with an over-riding feeling of optimism and a fist-clenching desire to get cracking with the next one, you know things have gone pretty much to plan.

Fitting then that by the end the clouds had long lifted and the summer was welcomed in with open arms by the customary May sunshine.

So now, unlike a British song contest entry, getting a chance to strut your stuff on the continent can only be a good thing.

Particularly on yesterday's evidence.

Everton all but secured their Uefa Cup place a week early, but Stamford Bridge was the stage for a rousing encore before the final curtain came down.

David Moyes' side caused Chelsea the kind of problems few can on their own ground and gloriously avoided the kind of post-European qualification lapse that proved so humiliating at Highbury two years ago.

A much stronger and steadier finish to this campaign than that one suggests European waters shouldn't be as treacherous.

You can't see them blowing it as badly as they did last time.

The squad will be bigger, should be stronger and the experience of last season's all-too-brief excursion will stand the survivors in better stead.

Having most of this current crop – who finished sixth after failing to match Tottenham's three points yesterday – in the luggage can only help that journey go more smoothly too.

But it doesn't even matter if the European campaign falls as flat as the last one.

It's cup-tie football and anything can happen, so there's precious little point in worrying about it now.

Everton might get a run going and storm their way to the final. They might crash out catastrophically in the first round again. Either way it will be an adventure and should be enjoyed whatever happens.

The point is though, at this stage it's irrelevant. That's all for the future.

Here and now is what is important and by merely qualifying Everton have re-established themselves as a top-flight force, a fact that should be celebrated and enjoyed.

Nobody needed to tell the joyous travelling supporters, the ones who – unlike the bizarre booing Goodison masses of Tottenham, February 28 – give a true representation of the on-field progress of the side.

And Moyes? Even being sent off couldn't disrupt his day.

He merely clambered over the fence to sit with the Chelsea fans but was no further away from his bench than he was before Mark Halsey dismissed him for over-zealous, yet totally justified, protests to Dider Drogba's equaliser.

The Everton manager's mood following an apparent foul by Paulo Ferreira on Mikel Arteta went from angry to apoplectic when, seconds later, Drogba steered in Shaun Wright-Phillips' cross and Moyes started the final-day pitch parade more than half an hour early.

But one thing he won't be complaining about is how much his team has improved considerably from this time last year and a continued failure to win at Stamford Bridge – now 12 seasons – isn't going to change that.

The statistics say that they are eight points better off than 12 months ago, the goal difference has gone from minus 15 to a remarkable plus 16, all adding up to a healthy leap of five places.

Only being denied the honour of inflicting Jose Mourinho's first defeat in the Premiership at Stamford Bridge by a couple of questionable decisions – the second seeing James McFadden wrongly flagged for offside when following up Cech's late save from Carsley – nicely sums up the season's work.

From the start, Everton's tackling and organisation was as sharp and well-drilled as ever, although things could have been different if Drogba had at times shown more composure in his race to be the first player to 20 Premiership goals this season.

Aside from his odd threat before he finally secured the Golden Boot, Everton kept Chelsea pretty well contained thanks to the dogged determination of Lee Carsley and Phil Neville to break up, and Mikel Arteta and Leon Osman to open up, the play.

In short, the elements that underpinned most of what was good about 2006-07 turned up to say their goodbyes.

Manuel Fernandes, possibly waving his last one, was composed in possession while James Vaughan's relentless routing of John Terry shows he has the attitude and aptitude for the lone striker role.

In fact, if anyone does want to dwell on the future, Vaughan is the ideal place to start.

His 50th-minute opening goal was gloriously conceived and executed, Arteta skipping through the middle to release Osman, whose ball was expertly slotted home by the teenager.

He could have had a second minutes later when more Arteta wing wizardry conjured up a volleying chance which Vaughan met sweetly but Petr Cech read to prefection.

But even after the controversial leveller, the fact that Everton didn't let Chelsea exert enough pressure to give their supporters a winning send-off speaks volumes for way this squad has intertwined this season.

When they group together there are few smaller huddles in the Premiership, but similarly few with as much team spirit and togetherness.

Recent injury lay-offs for Tim Cahill and Andrew Johnson, the driving force of the two-month unbeaten run that kicked off the campaign, have had little effect as the campaign has neared its climax.

The squad has maximised itself to the full, Carsley by playing every game, Alan Stubbs by stretching every 35-year-old sinew and Vaughan by maturing way ahead of schedule.

And if this is not a convincing enough measure of Everton's progress, compare it to Chelsea and what they're celebrating this morning.

Their supporters can sing 'we're going to Wembley' as loudly as they like, but nobody would be fooled into thinking that this in any way compensates for Mourinho losing his grip on the title for the first time.

But the straws at which the fans were clutching were emphatically wrestled away by the manager in his programme notes when, with typical modesty, he pointed out that he was on the verge of three consecutive unbeaten home campaigns since taking over at Stamford Bridge.

"The last, the only time, I have suffered a home league defeat was on February 22, 2002," he boasted.

But holding out for the result that equalled Liverpool's record of 63 home games without a loss yields no silverware – and the absence of that in the shape of the Premiership trophy is clearly galling for all concerned.